Director Jamie Finn told the East Kilbride News: “Our concerts are an integral part of our ethos, and play a major part in our students’ development.

“They give us the chance to show off our students, while giving the students a goal to work towards, and the opportunity to play in a professional venue in front of a sell-out audience and, most importantly, raise awareness and money for an extremely worthy cause.

“We held our first Christmas concert in 2014 in the basement of Legends Pub – now Barrocco – in the Village.

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“That first concert was a great success and such great fun. Now, four years later, our shows have come a long way, both in terms of size and production.

“This Christmas we raised £1600 – about £300 more than last year’s show. We hope to smash that figure with our 2018 summer concert – a joint celebration to mark Village Music’s 25-year anniversary which will be held at the Town House in Hamilton.

“This will be our most ambitious event to date with over 700 tickets going on sale, some special guest appearances – and yes, we are aiming to sell it out!”

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The Christmas concert is also an opportunity for VSOM to give their hardest-working students some recognition with the presentation of awards.

This year’s winners were:

● Michael Smith’s guitarist of 2017

– Lewis McCrory

● Scott Abercrombie’s guitarist of

2017 – Ben Ferguson

● Andrew Cowan’s guitarist of 2017

– Kaila Gallagher

● Marianne McGregor’s vocalist of

2017 – Elsie Hannay

● Mairi Therese’s violinist of 2017

– Robyn Thomson

● Sarah Farren’s ukuleleist of 2017

– Emma Belch

● Rob Mairs’ banjoist of 2017

– David Stuart

● Ross Neilson’s drummer of 2017

– Callum Tennant

● Craig McMahon’s pianist of 2017

– Emily Kassiri

● Katie MacMillan’s pianists of 2017

– Nieves and Raul Neieto

The coveted VSOM student of 2017 trophy was awarded to violinist Robyn Thomson.

Jamie added: “VSOM would like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff and tutors for their hard work in the lead-up to not just this concert, but all the events we run.

“And an extra special thank you to our sponsors Village Music, Blue Parrot Events, Fender and Audio Technica. Finally, thanks to all our students and their families for their support.